Always Forgotten
by Lady Monozuki
Summary: His birthday is always depressing and he can't take it anymore. Who will save him from his thoughts and will he ever feel wanted?
1. Chapter One

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis. **

December twenty-fourth, he hated that day. No matter how many years went by, he could not force himself to like the very date that he had been born on. Every year it was the same story, he would get up and go down to breakfast, everyone greeted him as the day before and didn't even wish him a happy birthday. His father would occasionally drag him out for a game of tennis in the _snow_ and it would end when his mom dragged them back inside for a lecture. They celebrated Christmas and spent several days preparing for the event. They always had people come over to spend time with them and every time, he was ignored. Instead of recognizing the day he was born on, they celebrated it together with Christmas so that those closest to them would be able to wish him a happy birthday. However, his birthday was far from happy.

He loathed the day and tried to come up with a million and one excuses not to go home. Unfortunately, none of the Regulars could house him for the week and so he was stuck at home. He stared out his window. It was drawing closer to the afternoon and he did not want to go out and face his family. As usual, they had not said anything to him on his birthday aside from the usual greeting. It was as though he did not exist in their eyes. Ryoma had tried to ask, in a subtle way, if they could do something _on_ his birthday to celebrate it; but his parents just chuckled and brushed him off. Even his cousin did not try to do something to cheer him up. This birthday, was far more miserable than the others. Perhaps it was because he had a number of birthdays like this and them ignoring him was starting to fester. He was angry, to say the least, and he didn't know what to do.

He tried to pretend that he was happy, but he couldn't keep on pretending. Today he just wanted to sulk or hurt someone, _something_. He watched as the snow fell from the sky. Each flake was a different shape and size, he admired the beauty of each one, but that did nothing to lift his spirits. The holidays, everyone was in the mood for the holidays and he was not. He wanted them to be over with so that he wouldn't have to think about it until next year. Ryoma let out loud sigh. No one had bothered to check up on him in his absence, he imagined that they were all getting along fine without him.

It was his birthday and they didn't seem to understand that concept. He wanted to do something special, make the day important, _something._He growled, how many times had he repeated that sentence in his mind? It was the same argument year after year, the same expressions, the same excuses. He finally decided to go downstairs. He stepped out of his room and found the place to be eerily quiet. All of the lights were turned off. He turned of them on and realized something. They had left him. He felt tears come to his eyes, he was never one to cry. However, he couldn't help it this time. They had gone without him and he was all alone, on _his_ birthday. They hadn't even bothered to come and get him, they just left. He slammed his fist against the wall, hurting himself more than the wall. He did not care.

They had abandoned him on his birthday, as though it was another day in the year that held no meaning. No gift, cake, or even the stupid song to remember the day by he had nothing but his loneliness. He sighed and walked back up to his room, there was nothing for him to do anyway. He returned to his spot at the window and stared. He didn't even bother to watch the snowflakes, they became a white blur in his vision. He just wanted to end this.

_I bet that if I killed myself, they wouldn't notice. Or maybe that would make them pay attention to me all the more._

That gave him an idea. He went down to the kitchen and grabbed one of his mother's cutting knives and stared at it for a while. Maybe he was being stupid, but he wanted this to end. Ryoma brought the knife to his wrist and cut. He gritted his teeth in pain, but dealt with it. The doorbell rang, but he couldn't muster the strength to answer it. He felt his vision swarm and faintly heard the door opening.

~End~

Lady Monozuki: Okay, so I wrote this because it's my birthday today and it's always a depressing time for me 'cause no one in my family cares. So this was written out of my depression. I used Ryoma's birthday because I imagined him being frustrated with no one remember his either. So this might have a sequel just because I want Ryoma's birthday to start off lousy and turn out happy. So please review, it would make my day, seriously.


	2. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis**

Lady Monozuki: Due to popular demand, I have decided to continue this story. Not just as a two-shot, but as an on-going series. I apologize for not getting this updated in a timely fashion. I wrested over several things on this story. One of them was to even continue writing my current stories. I'm still a little bit uncertain as to this one. The other was to try and figure out which pairing I would make this. After much deliberation, I have ended up on the pairing of Tezuka/Fuji/Ryoma. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

He had knocked several times, but the person at home did not answer. However, when he tried the door, he felt the knob turn so he walked inside. He was shocked to see the place so dark. He frowned. Perhaps he had made a mistake? No, Inui has specifically told him that the Echizens did not celebrate Ryoma's birthday until Christmas day. So then why was no one home? As far as he knew, they were not invited to any parties for the season and he _knew_ that the younger member of their team had not been looking forward to the event for quite some time. He noted that there was a light coming from the dining room. The question as to why that one light would on out of all of them was enough to give him a valid reason for checking it out. He heard the soft cries of Ryoma's cat as he approached and saw the source of the Himalayan's distress. His eyes fell upon the figure on the floor.

"Echizen!" he breathed. He ran over to where the young boy was lying. He noticed an abnormal amount of blood and the source of it. A knife had fallen in the pool and was covered as well. He tried to think of what he could do to say his life. His mind had to go through every possible thought before he landed on the right one. Raising a shaky hand, he placed it on the wound that marred the wrist. By applying pressure, he hoped that the blood would slow down enough. He remembered that he had a cell phone in his pocket and used his other hand so that he could call 119. The phone rang for what felt like forever and even when he heard the operator's voice, he could not keep himself composed. He had never expected for this to happy.

"Why did you do this, Echizen?" he whispered. There were tears forming in his eyes as he tried to comprehend the reasons as to why someone would want to cut their own wrist on their birthday. It did not make any sense for someone who had never seemed to care about special occasions and acted apathetic about upcoming events such as his birthday. The team had wanted to throw a party for him, but this was the time of year where everyone went to visit their families and therefore the plans fell through. However, he had wanted to invite Echizen to join both him and Tezuka out for a day where they could hang out.

He had come up with this idea not too long after he had caught his boyfriend staring at the young prodigy with the same stare that he often received. Fuji had almost chuckled when he saw this. Who would have ever thought that their respectable captain would be interested in not one, but two guys? No, nobody would ever guess that he and Tezuka were going out or that they both harbored a little rush on their prince. They had talked over it for a long time and agreed that it was not something that would go away and both wanted to make an effort to include Echizen in their outings so that they could get to know him better. Their intent was to invite him to join their relationship. However, they had not talked much during those times, mainly because they never saw each other much outside of club activities. They were trying though and Fuji had thought that their efforts were paying off.

He did not expect to find himself in this situation, _ever_. It was something that you only wished never happened to someone you knew. However, that would never erase the reality of it all. Fuji heard the sounds of distant sirens and prayed that the paramedics would hurry so that they could save Echizen. He did not want to think of how everyone would react should he die. He looked around the room. The place seemed far too empty and he could almost begin to understand why Echizen cut his wrist. The house held little lighting and therefore set this air of gloomy. Any normal person would be depressed within five minutes of staying in the house. He frowned. He knew that Echizen had parents. So then, where did they go? Not many people would be crazy enough to try and brave the weather outside. However, it seemed to be the case here and he wondered why they had left their son alone.

The paramedics rushed in. He backed away. Even though the scene before him was real, he felt as though they were from a movie and he was watching them load him onto a stretcher. One of them pushed him toward the back of the ambulance. Fuji could not say how long it took for them to get to the hospital, or even how he had managed to call Tezuka. He shocked to say the least. The doctors were still trying to save his life and it did not look promising. A hand touched his own and he jumped in surprise.

"Syuusuke," came the deep voice of his boyfriend. He forced himself to look away from the floor and into the usually emotionless eyes. He felt the tears fall down his face. Why? Why had someone with so much talent and promise wish to give it all up? And why was it over the fact that the house was empty on his birthday? He couldn't understand.

"Kunimitsu," he said in a voice. It sounded so unlike his usual teasing voice.

"The doctor's heading over here," his boyfriend said. Fuji lifted his head and watched as the person with a stained coat came closer to them. He gripped harder on the hand that was now entangled into his own. He did not think that he could handle the news.

_To be continued…_


	3. Chapter Three

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis**

Lady Monozuki: Gah, I know it's short. Today has been crazy and I haven't been able to sit down and write until twenty minutes ago. Please forgive me, but I'm just super stressed.

Fuji was not prepared for the news. He had allowed himself to stay in the state of shock ever since Tezuka had arrived and therefore was not ready to hear the answer to the question that Kunimitsu had asked. He could feel his body shaking. He didn't trust himself to stand at this moment because of that. Even though he was not sure that he could handle the news, he wanted to know so that he could figure out how best to help Echizen. The doctor looked at them for a moment.

"Do either of you know how to get in contact with his parents? I tried to contact them through the number listed, but there was no response," the doctor said, avoiding the question posed earlier.

Fuji didn't care, all he wanted to know was how Echizen was doing. This was another reason why he was glad that Kunimitsu was present. He knew that the Seigaku captain would answer the questions that he thought were unnecessary.

"We do not know the whereabouts of his parents at this moment," Tezuka said in a calm voice.

"I see, then I suppose I should go all the other to numbers listed. One belongs to a Tezuka Kunimitsu and Fuji Syuusuke," the doctor said. Fuji opened his eyes for a moment to stare at the doctor. He never thought that Echizen would put both him and Tezuka on an emergency contact list at the hospital. The next moment, he frowned.

_Why would he need to put us on the emergency contact list? He has only been to the doctor once since arriving here, from what I can recall._

"I'm Tezuka and this is Fuji," Tezuka said.

The doctor looked slightly relieved, Fuji could not tell why. He brushed the warning bells ringing in his mind to hear the news about Echizen's condition. He wanted to know. He _had_ to know. After all, he had discovered Echizen lying there on the floor. At the thought of the memory, he shuddered. The thought was too much at this moment. The doctor looked at him, but he put on a strained smile. He really didn't want to have anyone inquire as to how he was feeling at the moment. He wasn't too sure all of the emotions running through his mind.

"As you are aware, Echizen-kun cut his own wrist. We managed to get him here within enough time to save his life. When he cut into his wrist, he cut into the artery and partly into some of the surrounding muscle. While we saved him, he is still in a coma and right now."

A coma, Echizen was in a coma. Fuji wanted to know why someone would try to take their own life. Echizen had always come across as a passive, egotistical person. However, he never displayed any unhappiness outside of what they considered to be normal, which included complaining about fans, Horio, and Inui's drinks. He did not believe that he had just heard what the doctor said. He would have asked for the doctor to repeat it too, except he knew that his hearing was just fine.

Echizen Ryoma was in a coma, his parents were nowhere in sight, and Fuji had no idea what to do in this situation.

_To be continued…_


	4. Chapter Four

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis**

Lady Monozuki: Gosh, I feel terrible for leaving you with that dinky update for two weeks. I do apologize. I've been very busy over these past few weeks and just haven't been able to get my life back in order. Anyway, here is the next chapter. Thank you everyone for the wonderful reviews! They gave me lots of encouragement and I hope you review again! *bows deeply*

Fuji stared at the phone in his hands while his sister drove him home. His sister had come to pick him up five minutes ago from the hospital; he had not bothered to inform her of all the details yet. Trying to get getting in contact with Echizen's parents took precedence over anything else. He had left several messages on their answering machine and there was no response from them as of yet. He had to wonder what would cause both parents _and_ Echizen's cousin to disappear on this day in particular.

It seemed that even though He sighed. He wanted to go back to the Echizen household to look for any other indicators as to why they left or even gave a hint as to where they had gone. He did not believe that their disappearance was random by any means. They probably had a trip planned for several weeks. But as to why it would just happen to fall on Ryoma's birthday did not make sense.

Sure he knew that they celebrated Ryoma's birthday the day _after_, but no family would be so heartless as to abandon their child on their birthday, would they? Fuji shifted slightly in his seat. He could feel his sister staring at him occasionally and knew that she would soon press for information if he did not say something about what happened. He knew that he could not keep the information from her forever. She had scary good instincts and could predict what was happening based off your actions.

Never mind her fortune telling. That was another class of its own. He would have smiled, but could not bring himself to force one, especially when he was so concerned with another issue. He continued to stare at his phone, not caring whether he looked compulsive in his actions, he just wanted to hear from Echizen's parents, soon. This was one issue that could not be ignored, especially since their son was in a coma. He tore his gaze from his phone to stare out of the window.

"Syuusuke, what's going on?" his sister asked.

"Echizen is in a coma," he said. "I found him bleeding on the floor when I went over to his house."

"Isn't he the one that you were going to spend the day with along with Tezuka?"

"Yes," Syuusuke whispered. He clenched his fist to contain his anger. This was not how he had imagined the day going. He could not help but wonder all of the circumstances. However, he would not have the chance to talk to Ryoma until he woke up.

_That is, if he wakes up._

He shook his head. He needed to stay positive until he was able to figure out more of the details. He sighed. It seemed that he could not do much without background information or even hope to understand what had caused their super rookie to do such a thing. He did not understand and he always prided himself on being intuitive when it came to the Regulars especially because he made the effort to know what was going on in their lives. He supposed this had something to do with the fact that he cared about them and what happened in their lives.

He wanted to ensure that no one could ever hurt his friends. Fuji watched the snow fall onto the ground outside of the window of the car. They would be home soon. He held no doubts that his family would inquire as to what he was doing at the hospital in the first place. Even though he was not in a mood to answer their questions, he could not deny them the information. Besides, he would have to explain this to all of the Regulars and Ryuuzaki-sensai soon enough. That would not be pleasant at all. He could envision their reactions well enough.

"When you are going to inform the Regulars and your coach?" his sister asked.

"After I talk to Kunimitsu," Fuji said. "We didn't get to talk much because we were shocked. Neither of us could form words after we heard the news."

"You never did elaborate about his condition outside of the fact that he is in a coma," his sister said in a thoughtful voice.

"He cut into an artery and some of the muscle surrounding the area. I don't know what that means for him in the long run."

"I see," Yumiko said. "What about his parents?"

"We haven't been able to get in contact with them. When I came over, there was no one there aside from…from Echizen."

His mind went back to the memory of him discovering Ryoma on the ground, blood seemingly covering the small figure. He had never seen so much blood before and when he did, he had assumed that their youngest had been murdered. He had acted calm because being anything else in that sort of situation was never good. He had barely remembered to call 119 to get help. Syuusuke played the scene over in his mind. Now looking back, he wondered why he had been so calm.

After all, this was a person that he cared about and one that he had thought about making a part of a relationship. He forced his thoughts to another topic, tennis. However, it was not effective. Whenever he started to think about opponents that he had never beaten, Ryoma came to mind and his body would play back the bloody scene that would forever be in his memory.

The car came to a halt, bringing him out of his thoughts. He unbuckled his seatbelt and proceeded to head to the entrance. He wanted this day to be over with so that he could rest and not have to constantly worry about whether Ryoma was all right or not. He chuckled slightly. He was starting to sound like Oishi. He pulled out his key to unlock the front door, but his parents opened it for him instead. He tried to put on a smile, but knew that it wouldn't make a difference. They would see through and notice his pain anyway. He would have loved to believe that he was fooling everyone, but not in this situation. He stepped out of the cold and into the warmth. Even though there was a significant temperature difference, he was still numb.

"What happened, Syuusuke?" his mother asked. He took off his coat and then headed toward the living room. His father was waiting in the room with tea. He sat down in one of the chairs. He was not intentionally avoiding his mother's question. It was just that they both would want to hear the story.

"Where's Yuuta?" he asked, surprised that his younger brother was not present.

"He went out with some of his teammates earlier. He called a little while ago to say that he would belayed in getting home."

"Ah," Syuusuke said. "Then I suppose that there's no delaying the news. Echizen cut his own wrist. I just happened to be near his house sometime shortly after it happened. There was no response at the door, so I entered."

His voice died there. The picture came back once again all too clear for his taste. He tried to forget, but he could not.

"Syuusuke, are you all right?" his mother asked.

"I will be," he said in a flat tone.

_At least, I hope I will be._

"Continue on with what happened then," his father prodded.

He swallowed. "I called an ambulance and then went with them to the hospital. They took him to surgery and said that he was lucky. Had I not been there, he would have died. He's in a coma right now and they don't know when he's going to wake up."

"What about his parents?"

He twitched slightly. "We can't get in contact with them."

His phone started buzzing. His eyes immediately darted down to it and he picked it up.

"Hello, Fuji Syuusuke speaking," he said.

"Ah hello, this is Doctor Asami. I wanted to inform you that we lost your friend for a moment. We managed to bring him back, but we don't know whether he'll make it through the night. If you wish to stay at the hospital overnight, you can."

"I-I understand," he stuttered. He did not believe what he just heard. Ryoma had died for a few moments before they managed to bring him back.

_Why did this have to happen?_

_To be continued…_


	5. Chapter Five

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.**

Lady Monozuki: I'm so sorry for leaving you guys for such a long time without any updates. My life is all screwed up and I just recently found the mood to write again. Thank you to all who reviewed! I appreciate them very much.

He decided that he could never be prepared for any visits to the hospital. In less than twenty-four hours, he had gone there twice to see the same person. Each time, he thought that the news could not get any worse. He was wrong in so many aspects. Even though the hospital had allowed for him to stay the night, it was no something that he was excited about. At any given time, Echizen could pass away. With that knowledge, he was reluctant to fall asleep. Of course, he doubted that he would have gotten much sleep anyway, but this seemed so much more real since he was spending the night in the room. He was never more than a couple of feet away from the person lying in bed with various instruments attached to their body. There were several sounds of beeping that indicated something different, but most importantly that the person was still alive and breathing. A nurse sat near the bed, watching those instruments and making marks every so often on her clipboard. Sometimes, she would stand to adjust various things, but she was doing the same thing as him, watching to make sure that Echizen Ryoma survived.

He had always thought that tennis matches were tense with everyone watching and waiting for the first serve. Then, if someone rivaled you with both skill and talent, how you would break free and separate yourself from your opponent to steal win the game without going into endless amounts of tiebreaks. In addition, of course, there was a referee who always counted the points, telling you if you were winning or losing. Each hit was the determination of the outcome of the game and if you did not stay on top, it would be hard to make a come0back unless you were silently manipulating the game to make your opponent believe that he would win it all. He supposed life was similar. You had to be careful with how you lived or else you would end up on the losing side of the battle.

If there was one thing that Fuji prided himself on the most was staying calm even when the situations were against him. He had managed to do well against opponents and often caused them to slip up because he did not get riled as easily as others. However, when dealing with this sort of situation, he was far from being his calm self. He supposed this is where life and tennis differed vastly. He was able to manipulate a game and an opponent quite easily, but he could not manipulate life, especially when one of his team members was lying in a hospital bed with the uncertainty that he might live through the night. He glanced at the door for a brief moment, wondering when Kunimitsu would be back from calling Ryuuzaki-sensei. They had agreed to contact her because she seemed to know the Echizen family and would want to know the current situation of any of her team. They also knew that if Ryoma did end up passing on, which they hoped not, that neither of them would be strong enough to face the team come the end of the break to tell them the news. They were already witnessing his struggle between life and death, with the latter more likely. Ever since first learning that Echizen had attempted suicide, he had thought about death a lot, including how he would react if Ryoma died. Thinking about such a manner had proven to be difficult, as he did not want to believe that it would all end with a loss.

He had already made up his mind should Echizen pass on. He would quit tennis. It would be far too painful to continue playing when a person you cared about used to walk on those courts, cocky as hell, saying "Mada mada dane" to all superiors. He had watched many of them fall at the hands of the freshman and was amazed at everything he saw. Whenever faced with a challenge, Echizen never quit and tried to find ways to improve and keep the game in his advantage. He had to wonder what had caused the tennis player to give up on life. Fuji clenched his fist. If Echizen died, his family may as well have killed them with their own hands. He couldn't find any other reason why their most promising member would want to give up on everything before him.

He could only trace it back to parenting. The thought of where Echizen's parents could be at the moment was enough to make him angry. They were the ones who left him alone. There was no justification for _why_ someone would leave their child all alone, on their birthday no less. The door to the room opened, bringing him out of his angry thoughts. Kunimitsu walked through the door, Fuji noted with the same expressionless face as ever. Even in the midst of all of this, their captain was trying to do his best to remain calm. It both irritated him and made him realize that he was out of control sometimes Even if he was; he did not care as much. Tezuka sat down in the chair next to him without a word. He would wait for a moment before trying to speak, deciding that it would be best for the captain to get a hold of his thoughts.

He noticed that as Tezuka looked over at Echizen, his face became troubled. He understood. Kunimitsu's expressionless face was a façade to mask his true feelings. Both of their barriers had been shattered in this one instance. Neither of them knew how to recover from this. He wasn't even sure that if Echizen recovered that they would. He knew that their behavior would change from this, as well as their relationship. While he did not know how it would change, he only knew that it would be hard. Accepting the change would be difficult for the both of them considering they had already been shaken. Not knowing scared him. He liked to be in control of situations, but this was something that he could not control should he want to. That fact bugged him. He knew how to handle himself on a tennis court, but this was a different court altogether.

This was the court of life and he could do nothing in order to prevent the current events from happening. All he could do was hope that everything would work out for the better. As much as it bothered him, he had to accept it and move on. He would rather spend the time, no matter how short or long, reflecting on the good instances. Even though they had not known each other for very long, there was still a lot to think about. He remembered when he first saw the match against Arai and Echizen. While he knew, based from the match, that the kid was talented; he would have never imagined how far they would get because of him. Quite honestly, they owed everything that they had accomplished to him. They would not have progressed this far without him. While Echizen's tennis skills excelled beyond most of them, his attitude is what really brought forth a lot of trouble. He held back a small chuckle. Even though the freshman could back up every single one of his claims, it did nothing to stop tensions from running high.

He felt Tezuka touch his own hand. He turned his attention to the other person, knowing that they were ready to talk now.

"What did Ryuuzaki-sensei say when you talked to her?" he asked.

"She said that she would try to get in touch with Echizen's parents and to keep her informed. However, she seemed a little surprised when I mentioned that you and I were spending the night at the hospital. She didn't believe me when I told her that we were on his contact list. She always thought that Echizen would put Momoshiro in case of an emergency seeing as how the two of them are pretty close."

Fuji forced a chuckle. Of course everyone would expect for Echizen to put Momoshiro on the list. However, he got the impression that Ryoma did not like the attention that some of the regulars gave him.

"I suppose I can see her point there. However, I don't think he enjoyed the attention that he received from the rest of the team. Even during training, he preferred solitude. Whenever he played a match, he hated us shouting at him to cheer him on."

"True, but I think that Momoshiro would still be a more likely candidate for us."

This time, he really chuckled. "You didn't realize that all throughout training camps that he would constantly try to be near us because we were quieter and did not give him a ton of attention?" he asked.

"I guess not," Tezuka replied.

"What did she say about talking to the rest of the Regulars?"

"She said that she will inform them tomorrow, in spite of the holidays."

"Oh right," he muttered. He had forgotten about Christmas being the next day. He knew that neither of them would want to go back home knowing that Echizen could die at any given moment. It was the same reason that they were here right now. He sighed.

"I wonder what our families are going to do since I doubt that you're leaving," Fuji said thoughtfully.

"We'll figure that out tomorrow. Right now, one of us needs to rest while the other watches."

"You go ahead; you've been awake longer than I have. You always are," he lightly teased. "I'll wake you up if anything major happens."

He would not allow any room for argument. Kunimitsu did not protest, which suited him fine. Fuji resumed his stare on Echizen. Even though he knew that doing so would not speed up or help the recovery process. He refused to look in any other direction without a good reason. As the minutes went by, the air seemed heavier. He wanted to go outside and get some air. The room seemed far too small of all of its occupants, but he could not really complain considering the hospital had been generous enough to let them stay.

He did not need to constantly remind himself o the reason that he was here. He already could not forget finding Echizen, bleeding on the floor. The sight would never fade from his memory. No matter how hard he could try, the reminder of the event was in front of him. Even though he would not have to bear the physical scars, there would still be the emotional ones that would never heal properly. He rubbed his eyes to try and prevent them from closing. While he had told Kunimitsu to sleep first, he had not gotten much himself the night before.

He had been up all of the previous night, thinking of how best to approach Echizen. He knew that if the tennis prodigy felt the idea to be overbearing, he would refuse. The unfortunate part was that instead of spending the day having fun, he spent the day waiting to find out if Ryoma was even alive. Then he had gone through the frustrating task trying to get in contact with Echizen's parents. They still had no idea where they were and that bothered him.

No real parent would be gone this long, unless they were on vacation or purposely avoiding their child. He wanted to be able to believe that no parent would intentionally abandon their child, but he was no ignorant. He knew that there were times when adults no longer wanted to be responsible for their kids. While he could not understand their thinking, he supposed that everyone would feel like that every once in a while. Fuji sighed. Waiting would be one of the hardest things he's ever done. He wasn't sure the he would make it through the night without knowing how Echizen would be. He felt the person next to him shift.

He supposed that it would be easy for both of them to sleep in this room. After all, if anything major happened, there would be the sound of several people coming into the room all at once. There were still far too many questions unanswered. While he knew that contemplating the same thing over again would do nothing but stress him out and leave him with the same answers, he could not help but over-think every situation. Fuji had to wonder if the circumstances would be different if Echizen's parents were home, if they would have gone out today and done everything that was originally planned and if Ryoma would bear the pain. Of course, he had no idea what even caused the tennis prodigy to consider suicide.

Fuji watched the nurse make a few notes on her clipboard. Watching her make the routine marks made him tired. While he had no idea of what she was looking for or even writing down, it was dull and boring to him. What else could you say when the person was about as stable as they'll ever be considering their current situation? Every time she broke out of the routine, he began to worry. Why had she made a mark halfway between the time that she would usually write something down? He bit his upper lip.

_Please let him live through the night without any more problems. Let him live so that he can enjoy his life once again._

Fuji looked at the person next to him to make sure he was sleeping. He noted that the eyes were fluttering slightly. It would not be easy to sleep no matter what, he decided. Maybe he should not have been so forceful. He closed his eyes, giving in to his desire to rest for the moment. He would not allow for himself to fall asleep until after Kunimitsu woke up.

A cold hand touched his arm, making him shiver slightly. He opened his eyes to see Kunimitsu standing over him. He blinked and then rubbed his eyes. Fuji felt his head throb slightly.

"When did you wake up and is there any news on Echizen's condition?" he mumbled. Whatever time it was, it was far too early for him to be functioning properly.

"I woke up an hour ago. Our parents are here to see us along with Ryuuzaki-sensei. The doctor said that Echizen is still in a rough condition, but he should be all right now that he's made it through the night."

"Where are they at?" he asked, more awake now that he heard the word "parents". He would have to make himself look slightly presentable. Especially since he had to go in front of Kunimitsu's parents. Looking disheveled was not ideal in front of them as they were very particular about looking upstanding.

"They are in the waiting room. I told them that you wanted a few minutes to get yourself ready since you had a rough night."

Fuji nodded. He stood up from his spot and found that all of his muscles were aching. He stretched to relieve the tension in them.

"I suppose that I should go wash my face at the very least. I'll be back soon and then we'll go down to meet them. Did Ryuuzaki-sensei mention anything about calling the Regulars yet?"

Kunimitsu shook his head. Fuji just nodded and then headed for the door. He went into the hall and it took him half a minute to remember where he was in relation to the bathrooms in this area. As he neared the restroom, he wondered if his parents brought a spare change of clothes for him. After all, he had worn these since he found a bleeding Echizen and they had dried bloodstains on them, something that was a constant reminder of what had occurred yesterday. He entered the restroom. He found the room empty so he could use the sink without any worries. Fuji walked up to the mirror and noted that there were dark bags under his eyes. He should have expected to see them there considering how poorly he had slept.

The whole time that he was asleep, he kept dreaming that Echizen died repeatedly and each time, he could do nothing to stop the death. Fuji turned on the faucet and waited a few moments for it to run hot water. When he deemed the temperature warm enough, he began to splash the water on his face before grabbing a paper towel and putting soap on his face. He wasn't doing this for any other reason other than to make him look as though he actually belonged in the land of the living.

He finished washing his face and turned the water off. He then dried it and used the extra moisture to make his hair rest flatter so it did not look like he just woke up. Though there were some that would argue his hair looked like that anyway. After he finished making himself look presentable, he headed back to Ryoma's room to get Kunimitsu. He knew that the encounter with their parents would be slightly awkward. Considering that they both wanted to stay in the hospital on the holiday, it would be a cause for a lot of tension. He did not want to think of what could possibly happen. All he knew was that he would be upset if he had to go home. Fuji also knew that Tezuka would be as well.

He walked into Echizen's room and caught Kunimitsu's eye. He could tell that they were both dreading the encounter. He broke the stare and looked at Echizen's still form.

"Are you ready to go out there?" he asked.

"Aa, let's go. We shouldn't keep them waiting."

Fuji could hear the hesitation in Tezuka's voice. He nodded and went back out the door, hoping that this would not take long. Even though he was glad that they took the time to come and see him, he wanted to be reassured that Echizen would be all right. He allowed Kunimitsu to lead the way to the waiting room since he had not bothered to memorize where they were in relation to the exit. His main concern had been to be with Echizen. He silently thanked Tezuka for even knowing the way out, otherwise he would've gotten lost without help. Ahead, he caught sight of their coach, who was talking on the phone with someone.

Even though she knew of the situation, he could not help but feel slightly nervous at confronting someone other than his family. The topic was sensitive enough with all things considering. After all, he had been the one to find Echizen shortly after the incident happened. While he could have done nothing to prevent it, he still felt guilty and knew that Ryuuzaki-sensei would want to know the details of what happened.

_To be continued…_


	6. Chapter Six

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis**

Lady Monozuki: Thank you everyone for your wonderful reviews! I hope you enjoy!

He felt as though the people around him were judging him. Even though he knew that they were there for support, he could not help but feel as though he was on trial for being there after Echizen had cut his wrist. His throat went dry as Ryuuzaki-sensei turned toward him and Tezuka. All of the words he had in his mind before were lost. She looked at them with a stern face, looking at them with the same gravity that one would liken to a criminal. He clenched his fist and tried not to shake. While he knew that she was not looking at him in that aspect, it did nothing to ease his mind that was already starting to fall apart. He had been the one to find Echizen in the pool of blood. He had been the one who had rode to the hospital and waited torturously for hours on end for even a whisper of Ryoma's fate.

"Fuji, Tezuka, you look terrible. Have you been taking care of yourselves?" Ryuuzaki-sensei asked.

Neither of them could honestly say that they were because since the upset yesterday, everything had spiraled out of their control. He noted that Tezuka had shook his head, which was more than he could do at the moment.

"I see," she said. "I know that you both want to be there for him, but you shouldn't neglect your own health. It wouldn't do us any good to have three of our players out when we come back from winter break. Now, tell me what sort of condition Echizen is in and where the hell is his no good father?"

Fuji cleared his throat. "Echizen is in a coma. The doctor's are still keeping him under observation and we don't know where his parents are."

He couldn't read the expression on Ryuuzaki-sensei's face. However, he knew that there was anger in there. He decided it would be best not to ask questions since he didn't trust himself to convey his thoughts properly.

"I see," was all that she said. "I'll try contacting them then. Why don't you two visit with your families?"

They both nodded. Fuji was confused. He had expected her to have more questions, but he figured that there would be more questioning to come later or even more discussion with her. Right now, he deided that it would be best to talk to his family since they were probably the most confused out of all of them.

"Syuusuke, how is your friends? Did he make it through?" his sister asked.

"Yes nee-san, he made it through. They're still keeping him under observation though until he is more stable."

"We brought you something to eat and a change of clothes," Yumiko said. She handed him a bento box and fresh clothes that he was very grateful for.

"Okaa-san and Otou-san are willing to let you stay until the evening before coming home and having dinner with us."

He looked at his parents. "Really?" he asked. His mom smiled and nodded.

"If you want to that is. Yumiko would pick you up later in the evening."

He wanted to accept their offer right away. However, he did not want to stay here in the hospital if Kunimitsu could not. He sighed.

"It depends on if Tezuka is going to stay.

"Of course," his mom said. "We would have let you stayed all day, but this is the only time we're together since Yuuta decided to go to a school further away."

He broke out into a small grin. "Ah, I missed Yuuta yesterday. Did he miss me?"

"We told him that you had an emergency that needed to be taken care of, he said that he understood, but I got the feeling he was upset over the fact that you weren't there to greet him."

"I'll have to do my best to make up for it tonight then," he said.

Fuji looked over toward Tezuka and saw that the tennis captain was still engaged in a conversation with his parents. He waited for them to be finished before going up to Tezuka.

"What did your parents say?" he asked.

"They say that they want me to go home with them. However, they would understand if I chose to stay here."

"My parents said that I can do what I want. However, I don't want to stay here unless you are going to as well."

"I don't think that there will be anything gained from us staying here. We are both exhausted and need to take a break from thinking about Echizen for a while."

"So, we're going home then," Fuji said in a quiet voice. It angered him that Tezuka wanted to leave the hospital after they had both agreed to stay there if they were given the chance. He supposed though that had more to do with his parent's influence more than anything. He couldn't deny though that he was expecting that sort of answer and he really couldn't argue with him. However, it seemed a bit unfair to Echizen who did not have anyone else there to watch over him while they were gone.

"You sound as though you don't want to," Tezuka said.

He was growing angrier. How could Tezuka not care at all? Sure, going home was the rational thing to do, but Echizen _needed_ someone there. It did not matter whether Ryoma was conscious at all, there still needed to be people present, and preferably people that cared about him.

"Well, you sound as though you don't want to watch over him."

"That's not what I mean," Tezuka defended. "I am merely stating that right now, we are both not much support."

"It does not make a difference," Fuji snapped. "His life is still in danger."

"Fuji!" Tezuka barked. "Just because you were there after he cut his wrist does not mean that you bear all responsibility for what happened."

He froze. He had no response for that because he knew it was true. He had been trying to convince himself of that since yesterday. It wasn't his job to watch over Echizen all of the time. However, it did nothing to ease the guilt.

_Besides, if he died while you weren't there, you would feel even worse._

However, he would feel even worse if Echizen died when he was present. It was a cycle that could not be broken. He would feel guilty either way because he was the first one there. What would have happened if he and Tezuka had chosen not to try and celebrate Ryoma's birthday? Would Echizen have died then and they would just learn about his death upon their return to school like everyone else?

"Syuusuke," he heard Tezuka say. He jumped slightly. He had allowed himself to space out during the conversation. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I see your point. We'll go home," he muttered.

"Let's go talk to Ryuuzaki-sensei and then we can go home."

He nodded and followed Tezuka toward their coach who had just hung up her phone conversation. If her facial expression was anything to go by, she had no success in locating Echizen's parents either.

"Well, I haven't been able to contact Echizen's parents. Anyway, you said earlier that Ryoma was in a coma. We don't know what will happen during now and the start of the school term. Until we know more, I say that we should inform the Regulars that Echizen is in the hospital and that he will likely be there for a while. Tezuka, I want you to go ahead and start making blocks for ranking matches. I know that we said that we would hold off for a few weeks, but since Echizen is likely not going to be able to join us for a while, we might as well go ahead. I would ask Inui to replace him, but I do not think that's fair to the other players. The tournament will be held the week after we start meeting again."

"If you are going to hold a ranking tournament to fill Echizen's spot, I don't think that we should tell the Regulars," Fuji muttered.

"Why not?" Ryuuzaki-sensei asked.

"Because, it will affect the Regulars and their game. We know what they can be like when it comes to Echizen. They do not need to have that distraction."

"Are you suggesting that we don't tell them?"

"In a sense," he continued. "I say that Echizen is taking an extended holiday."

"You want me to lie to the team about Echizen and what happened. Don't you think that they will find out eventually?"

"Yes, but we still have a few important matches before we take a break from tennis for the season. If their concentration is ruined before then, then we don't have any hope of winning them. Echizen wouldn't want us to lose these matches because of him."

"Fuji has a point," Tezuka interjected. "However, it would also be a good motivator for them as well. They would be likely twice as determined to win the games for Echizen."

"However, they will be more likely to make simple mistakes during the match," Fuji countered.

"Yes, but you are suggesting that I flat-out lie to them."

"I understand what I am asking of you," Fuji said. "You could just say that Echizen is not going to be able to come to school for a while. That way you do not have to lie to them, you just won't be telling them the truth."

"You're not going to give in until I agree with you, huh?"

"It's ultimately up to you as to what you do."

"I will think about it. However, I still expect that we will have ranking matches a week from when we return from break."

He nodded. It was not up to him who was informed and who was not. However, he knew that it would have a negative impact on the team. He had to let it go though. There was only so much that he could do in this situation. Fuji walked over to his parents since there was little use in discussing the tennis team any longer.

"Tezuka and I decided that we're not going to spend the rest of the day in the hospital," Fuji said.

"All right then, Syuusuke. Let's go home."

He didn't say anything else, but followed them out of the hospital. He did not care at this point if he said good-bye to Tezuka. He was still a little upset that they were not spending time in the hospital when Echizen had no one else. Of course he knew that he could stay behind. However, it did not appeal to him. What would he do if something bad happened while he was there alone? Who would be there to prevent him from going insane? He had already suffered through the discovery of Ryoma's bleeding body.

"Syuusuke, are you all right? Are you still worried about your friend or is it Tezuka?" his mother inquired.

"It's nothing, just thinking."

"You know that you can go back if you want to."

"No, it's best that I go home for the time being. After all, it will give me a chance to relax a little."

He stared out the window for a moment before allowing himself to drift off to sleep. It was going to be a hard journey ahead for all of them. He needed to make sure that he was ready for whatever was to come.

--

Fuji stared at the hospital bed. After spending the night at home, he had returned early in the morning. He noticed that there were no improvements since he had last visited except that there was no nurse monitoring everything constantly. The person on the bed was still relying on the machines to keep him alive. In this light, he thought that Ryoma looked far worse off. Even still, he had to assure himself that Ryoma was going to be all right. He sat in the chair next to the bed. He reached out and touched the bandaged wrist of their tennis rookie. The skin was not as cold as he expected it to be. In fact, it felt as though he was alive, just unmoving and without his usual fire that they knew he possessed. It was quite a sad sight to see. If he had been any other person, he would have just written off Echizen as a person who would never make it through. However, he believed that their younger member would pull through. After all, if he could not hope, then what else was there for him to do?

The door opened to the room and he looked over his shoulder briefly to see who it was. He smiled slightly when he saw their stoic tennis captain.

"Welcome back," he said.

"Aa, when did you arrive?"

"Not too long ago. His hands are warm and soft. Usually a tennis player's hands get rough after a while."

"Are you going to be all right, Syuusuke?"

"I'll pull through, somehow."

"You know that you can rely on me."

"I know. However, you can't help me forget what I saw."

"No, but you can't forget let it prevent you from recovering either."

"I suppose you're right. However, it seems so insignificant in comparison to what Ryoma is going through. He's fighting just to live another day and I'm just holding on to one small memory."

"It may be small now, but it will grow. I'm always here if you need me."

"I know," he whispered.

_But this is something that I don't know how to explain._

"He will pull through, you have to remember that and not let it get to you."

"Kunimitsu, do you think he really wanted to die? Would he resent me if he woke up and he found out that I was the one who saved him?"

He looked up at the tennis captain. His insecurities had only grown over the past night, not gotten better. There were several questions that were going through his mind and he did not have any answers. While he knew that Kunimitsu did not have them either, it was better to ask than to keep worrying. He may have preferred to keep to himself, but this was something that was beyond both of them in maturity. They would have never imagined dealing with this and another of them was prepared for it.

"he won't resent you. If he wanted to really die, he would have succeeded."

"But he still tried to take his own life."

"Probably to call attention to something that he was not getting," Tezuka replied. "When people feel left behind in certain areas, they do drastic things."

Fuji thought for a moment. Kunimitsu had a point. However, he could not think of what would be missing from Ryoma's life. They didn't know either because the tennis rookie kept to himself about his home life for the most part. The door slid open and in walked three people. he recognized the doctor right away and there were two people that he had not met before. He vaguely remembered seeing the man somewhere before.

"Ah, I did not know you two were here. Fuji-kun, Tezuka-kun, this is Echizen-kun's parents."

Fuji opened his eyes to stare at the people who had been so difficult to get a hold of.

_Saa…_

_To be continued…_


	7. Chapter Seven

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis**

Lady Monozuki: Here's chapter seven, sorry you all had to wait so long! Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! Enjoy!

He stared at the people in front of him. The doctor had declared these people as Echizen's parents. However, he would not dare to call either of them a parent for they had not been there for their son when he needed them most. Tezuka grabbed his hand and tried to pacify him. Even with Tezuka's presence there, he would not hold back. These were the people who had not bothered to come until almost two days _after_ Ryoma first slit his wrist. Giving them a piece of his mind was exactly what he wanted to do after they had waltzed in here without even looking sad at the fact that their son was fighting for his life.

"I was informing the Echizen's how you two barely left his side after his surgery. Also, Echizen-san, the one with his eyes closed was the one who found your son."

Fuji stared at their faces. Their eyes were locked on his face, which he found to be quite odd. He wanted them to acknowledge the fact that their son was in the room, but they were ignoring him.

"We will leave you alone," he heard Tezuka say. He was surprised. Why would Kunimitsu want to leave? He felt the hand pulling him gently toward the door. He shot another glare at Ryoma's parents before following him out the door.

"Why did you say we would leave?" he hissed.

"Maybe they felt uncomfortable around us. I figured that if we left, they would open up a little."

As much as he wanted to point out that these were the same people who had not bothered to return any of their calls or were even _home_ when their son decided to cut his wrist. Fuji thought that they were being generous enough by letting them even see their son. Not that he had much power over who could see Echizen, but he still felt possessive over him.

"I know what you want to say, but it's not within our authority to prevent them from seeing him. Also, they may have a reason that we do not know about. When we go back in the room we can try and get answers out of them using nonthreatening methods."

"You know me too well, Kunimitsu."

"Same goes for you."

He sighed. There was not much he could do in this situation except wait to see how this would all work out, it was no ideal, but he had to be patient. He was never known for waiting. He was always impulsive and got what he wanted because of that. It was irritating to sit back and do nothing. He could sense that Kunimitsu was also having a hard time sitting by as well. They had both gone through an emotional attack that was making them act out of character. He could understand if he was the one to be brash, but seeing Kunimitsu get upset like this was something that he would not have expected. In fact, it was endearing to him. Seeing how upset his boyfriend was, made him happy and it showed that he really did care about Ryoma as well as his feelings.

They went toward the cafeteria to get something to drink. They contemplated getting something to eat as well, but they wanted answers from Echizen's parents. He finished his drink quickly so they could head back there as soon as possible. The walk seemed to take forever in his opinion. He found that he did not like being away from Ryoma for extended periods of time, it set his mind into all sorts of scenarios. While he knew that most of them were not likely to happen, he could not help but think of each possibility in detail.

He let out a soft chuckle. He was reminding himself of Oishi. Fuji looked and saw the doctor leaving Ryoma's room. He noticed that Echizen's parents were not with him. They passed each other in the hall but did not say anything to each other. He did notice, however, that the doctor was a little more disgruntled than before. He wondered what could have happened in the span of ten minutes to make the doctor so stressed. The two of them lingered outside of Ryoma's room for a little longer before entering again. When they opened the door, the first thing he noticed was how far away they were sitting from Ryoma's bed.

It was baffling. He could not explain why they would spend so much time away from their son who could have died. The fact that they were not near him only served to anger him even more. If he had not silently promised to have a rational dialogue with them before this, he would have lashed out at them. Instead, he put on a smile. Even if he could not fool Kunimitsu, he could fool the parents into believing that he was harmless. The problem would be controlling his voice so that it did not sound as though he was going to murder them every time he spoke. Even if that was what he wanted to do. Curse his sadistic side for showing up at the most inappropriate times.

"So you are the one who found Ryoma?" Echizen's mother asked.

He grimaced. He was hoping that they would start off on a different topic. "Yes," he replied.

"What were you doing at our house?" came the same cold voice.

There was no emotion behind it, it was almost as though she was interrogating him.

"I wanted to invite him out for his birthday."

"I see. Why did you enter the house?"

He was confused. Most parents would show gratitude, but they were acting indifferent as to what had happened to their son. He opened his eyes slightly. Perhaps they really did not care what happened to their son? No, that seemed far too cruel. However, their behavior certainly suggested it. He did not want to accept that.

"Because I heard his cat crying," he replied. "It seemed distressed and I know that Echizen-kun would not have liked it if anything happened to Karupin."

They seemed shocked that he knew so much about their son. It was surprising that they would have that sort of reaction. Maybe he was reading too much into this. Perhaps they were just as surprised that Ryoma had cut his wrist.

"I see," was the whispered rely to his statement. He waited for them to continue questioning him. However, they did not. It was both a relief for him and irritating. He studied them both. He vaguely recognized the father, but had never seen Echizen's mother before.

"Echizen," he muttered. "Echizen Nanjiroh?"

It dawned on him that this man was the former professional tennis player that had disappeared one day from the pro tennis circuit. They had discussed Echizen's father briefly at various points during the tournaments. They had never met the man. At least, that is what he thought. Thinking back, the robes that Nanjiroh wore were very similar to those that a monk had worn while in their visit to Chiba.

"Echizen-san," he heard Kunimitsu say. "We know that it is no our place to pry, but we would like to know why you did not return any of our calls."

"We were gone," Nanjiroh replied casually.

"And the ones that Ryuuzaki-sensei made to your cell?" he added. He was finding it even harder to control his temper. Their nonchalant attitude was not helping.

"We did not get the messages until recently. That is when we headed over here."

He did not deem that as an acceptable excuse, especially when their body language spoke so oppositely of what they were trying to portray. They did not care what happened to Ryoma.

_They wouldn't have come at all._

That was the feeling that they got. If they did not want to come, why did they bother? They were hiding something else from them. He wanted to ask them about it. However, he had the feeling that it would not be well received. They seemed to be private people who would not share the information willingly. He had to either trick it out of them or find information supporting his hypothesis. It would not be easy to do the latter. All he had was his observation of behavior, nothing more. Ryoma certainly did not mention anything odd about his parents.

In fact, the super rookie had rarely mentioned anything about his family. The only thing that he seemed to hold affection for was his cat.

--

"What did you think of Echizen's parents, Kunimitsu?" he asked. They had spent another fifteen minutes of awkward silence with Ryoma's parents before they had left. Now, they were sitting by Ryoma's bedside. They had not spoken to each other for an hour. They both needed time to collect their thoughts. He had spent most of the time trying to figure out what they could be hiding.

"I don't trust them," his boyfriend replied.

"Neither do I," he muttered. "They're hiding something. When they talked about receiving our phone calls, they seemed to be holding back the truth. I'm not an expert, but their responses were too quick."

"Are you saying that they rehearsed their answers?"

"Saa," he replied. "Again, I'm not an expert. I can only give my opinion."

"And you're saying that yours might not be the best to go off of because you feel so strongly about Echizen?"

He nodded. It was not necessary to do so since Kunimitsu already knew what he was thinking. He both liked the fact that he did not have to voice out all of his thoughts. They knew each other too well. It was both comfortable and boring to him. He liked the security, but it was scary how well they knew each other.

Fuji stared at the figure who was oblivious to what was going on around him. He wondered what Ryoma was hiding from them all. After all, he doubted that the reason why Echizen tried to kill himself and the reason why his parents were so blasé about what had happened were different. There was a lot more going on that they did not know about. He was determined to figure out what.

"Syuusuke," Kunimitsu said. "Do you want to go out and get something to eat? Staying in here and contemplating their actions won't do us any good."

He understood that his boyfriend was trying to distract him from the encounter earlier. He nodded. They might as well considering that there was not much else to do except stare at the unconscious figure. He was only torturing himself by replaying the images in his mind and making it harder on himself.

"You do not need to keep what you are thinking to yourself."

"You already know what I am thinking."

"Not all of the time, Syuusuke."

"It won't help. What I am feeling is not something that can be fixed with a conversation. It will only serve as to anger me even more."

"I know."

He stared at Kunimitsu. "What do you mean?"

"I meant that you do not have to keep your fears to yourself. You are blaming yourself for what happened and you are afraid of what might be in store of the future."

"If you already know, then why do I have to say it?" he mused.

"Because, it's better to say them out loud," Kunimitsu replied.

"I suppose you're right."

They headed out of Echizen's room to go to a fast food restaurant nearby. It was not their first choice for food. However, they wanted to stay close so that they could head back to the hospital quickly should anything happen. They walked toward the entrance when he caught sight of two familiar people.

"Nyah! Oishi, it's Tezuka and Fujiko!"

He stopped in his tracks, along with Tezuka.

"Ah, Tezuka, Fuji, what are you two doing in the hospital?" the fuku-buchou asked.

_What are we going to tell them?_

_To be continued…_


	8. Chapter Eight

**Disclaimer: I do not own PoT**

Lady Monozuki: I'm surprised at how well this chaptered flowed. Once I started writing, I couldn't stop and I finally got throw in Tezuka's point of view. It didn't last as long as I thought it would, but I'm not one to argue with story direction (too much). Anyway, thank you all for reading and reviewing! It means a lot to me! Enjoy!

It was a simple question. So why was it so hard to answer their inquiry? He stared at them blankly for a moment before possible answers even came to mind. All he could think of was their reaction. He thought it was far too soon for anyone else to know about what had happened and he certainly did not want to explain it all again. It was like a repeating nightmare that never wanted to end. He reached out for Kunimitsu's head to keep himself standing. The other person provided it for him and he took comfort in the fact that there was someone by his side through all of this. He started to calm down.

"We're here visiting someone," was the reply that Tezuka came up with. It was vague, but it did not reveal who they were visiting.

"What are you doing here?" Fuji asked, trying to deter further inquiries.

"Ah," Oishi said. He watched the fuku-buchou look down at his feet. "*We were practicing in the street courts and while trying out a new move, I slipped and thought I pulled a muscle in my foot, but it turns out that it's a light sprain. It will be fine by the time we come off break."

The redhead came over to latch himself onto Fuji. He gave a strained smile. It was best to leave what they did not know alone.

"You look tired, Fujiko. Are you all right?"

"I haven't been sleeping very well," he replied.

"You should rest more. Even though we're on break, you still have to take care of yourself. That's what Oishi said to me!"

"Tezuka, I wasn't aware that you knew anyone in the hospital. Who were you visiting?" Oishi asked.

They were back to the topic that both of them wanted to leave untouched. He cast a glance at Tezuka. There was not much point in hiding it much longer. They were going to find out eventually. It was just that they had thought that by then they would have had time to recover slightly. Instead, it was just another reminder of what had happened just a few short days ago. Even if they had known what Ryoma was going to do, they would never be any more prepared. It was something that they would have to accept.

"We're visiting Echizen," Fuji whispered. As expected, they fell silent. Both Eiji and Oishi both had a blank face on, as if they were trying to translate what he had just said. He shifted slightly. They were making him want to leave and pretend that he had never uttered those words.

"Nyah, what's wrong with Ochibi?" Eiji asked after a few moments of silence. "Is he sick?"

"He…He's in a coma," Tezuka said for him. He stared up at Kunimitsu in surprise for a brief moment. It was not the like his boyfriend to pause like that. The captain was known being confident in everything that he said. He gave Kunimitsu's hand a small squeeze.

"W-What?" Oishi managed to get out. "Echizen is in a coma? What happened? Is he going to be all right? When did this happen? When did you find out?"

Tezuka held up a hand to silence the other. "If you want to know everything then you can accompany me and Syuusuke to dinner. However, you can't reveal this to any of the other Regulars until we tell them. I know that I'm asking a lot, but please respect our wishes."

"I understand," Oishi said. "We won't tell anyone."

With that, they headed out the nearby restaurant. Fuji was trying to think of how he was going to get through this conversation. It was bad enough that he explained this all yesterday. He had a feeling though that there would be several more times that he would have to explain it.

"Fujiko, are you all right? You're spacing out!"

He stared at his usually bubbly redhead. "I suppose you're right."

"Eiji, Fuji's had a lot on his mind."

He flashed a grateful smile to Oishi before resuming his spacing out. A plate of food was placed in front of him and he looked up at Kunimitsu.

"Thanks," he muttered. He took a bite. It was all bland in his opinion. They finished their food in silence before answering their questions. He sipped on water and waited for Eiji and Oishi to begin talking again. He knew all of the questions that they were going to ask already since they had expressed them earlier. However, he did not want to delve into the story.

"So, why is Echizen is the hospital?" Oishi asked in a serious voice. It was borderline angry, but he brushed it off as him overacting. Then again, they had not notified the other Regulars as to their youngest member's condition. He imagined that he would feel the same way if anyone kept a secret like this from him.

"He tried to commit suicide," he whispered. The weight of his words sunk in immediately. The other two darkened at the news.

"Why would Ochibi do something like that?" Eiji muttered. The usually energetic player's tone spoke volumes. There was no optimistic edge to his voice, but a sincerity that was rather uncharacteristic.

"To be honest," Tezuka replied. "We don't know either."

Oishi looked as though he was about to faint while Eiji still seemed to be having a hard time digesting Kunimitsu's words. He knew what question would come next and he really wished that they would not touch on the subject. He had tortured himself enough with the memory; he just wanted to forget it all.

_If only you could._

"How did you find out about E-Echizen being hospitalized?"

He reached out for Kunimitsu's hand under the table. He had always considered himself to be a strong person, but this was one time where he felt incredibly weak. He needed a pillar of support by his side or else he might crumble. He wanted to laugh at that thought.

_You're almost broken completely._

"I-I went over to his house," he began. "I found him on the f-floor and called the ambulance."

Every word that he had said echoed in his mind, reminding him, mocking him, laughing at how fragile he was and how he was unable to help Ryoma.

"How long has he been in the hospital?"

"Since the twenty-fourth," Tezuka asked.

Fuji watched the Golden pair's eyes widen. "T-Then," Oishi stammered.

"He tried to kill himself on his birthday?" Eiji finished for his doubles partner.

"Yes."

* * *

Tezuka always projected a strong image. He did not let little things bother him and he lived up to every expectation his former captain had placed on him as a pillar of support. However, he this was one time where he had never felt so _pathetic._ He may put on a mask to hide his true feelings and expressions, but he was just as affected as Syuusuke. Discovering that Ryoma had tried to kill himself made him wonder if he was partly to blame.

So when Fuji had reached for his hand for support, he had silently wished that he had someone to rely upon as well. He knew that Syuusuke was close to a breaking point psychologically, but he was not in a position where he could offer much support. After all, he also had to deal with the shock. True, he may not have witnessed the same horrors as Fuji, but it was still someone that he cared about that was lying in the hospital bed and the other was relying on him to get them through.

There were conflicting emotions and thoughts. On the one hand, he wanted to be there for both Syuusuke and Ryoma. On the other, he wanted someone to be there for him and assure him that he in no way caused the incident. Right now, he had chosen his role as support to Syuusuke. He needed to assure his boyfriend that everything was going to be all right, even if all odds were stacked against Echizen. He listened to the exchange between Syuusuke and the Golden pair and answered for Fuji when he could. He knew that talking about the incident was only dragging down Syuusuke further into the depths of self-hatred and depression.

He could attribute a lot of what his boyfriend was feeling to different factors as well, but that was the most predominate one. They had yet to get to the part where they could even express what they were feeling to each other. It was all silent brooding. There would be the occasional conversation where they both could sum up what the other was feeling, but they had not talked out their feelings. It would be good for them to reach that point quickly. However, he had the feeling that Syuusuke would need more time to recover. He just hoped that the tensai would not hide his emotions completely.

"When were you going to plan on telling the rest of the Regulars about this?" Oishi asked in a quiet voice.

"We were planning on telling you when school started again," he replied. He silently pleaded with Oishi not to ask any more questions as to why they made that choice. They had wanted time to recover from what had happened.

"I see. How is Echizen's family taking the news?"

He felt Syuusuke's hand tighten around his own. The air around his boyfriend had changed from a depressed one to murderous. He felt the same way, but kept his emotions in check.

"We had a lot of trouble getting in contact with them. However, they visited him this morning. The encounter was rather…odd."

"What do you mean by that, Tezuka?" Eiji asked.

"They acted indifferent to his situation. We're unsure if this is how they usually act, but the lack of emotion was rather disturbing."

"You two have been spending every moment that you can in the hospital," Oishi said suddenly. He nodded. "Do you mind if we stop by tomorrow then?"

"Not at all," Syuusuke spoke. "He's in room one hundred and ten."

"We'll see you tomorrow then. Don't blame yourselves for what happened," was all the Oishi said to them.

_Which is easier said than done._

The two left him and Syuusuke. He cleared their table before they headed back to the hospital. He wanted to talk about the conversation they had just had. However, he could sense that Syuusuke would rather be left alone. He still could not help but make one comment though.

"At least we have others for support."

* * *

He stared at Kunimitsu for a moment before giving a small smile. It was true. They did not have to bear the burden by themselves any longer. While it was by chance that they had even met the others in the first place, it was comforting all of the same. He turned back to look in front of him. Even if they had the support of their friends, he was not sure that he would go to them for help. They didn't understand what he had experienced. He knew that Kunimitsu wanted him to talk about what he was feeling, but all that he could really identify was self-loathing. He constantly asked himself "What if you had gotten then a few minutes earlier? Could you have prevented him from cutting his wrist?" and "What if you had gotten there a few moments later?". They were scenarios that he had played out in his head, despite what had already happened. Each mental imagine was worse than the other and it sent him down a path where he was finding it more difficult to get out of the more times he thought about it. He felt a hand grab his own and move him out of the way. It was at that moment that he realized that he had been walking automatically and not taking in anything in front of him.

"Arigato," he said.

"You're welcome."

They went back to Ryoma's room and found Echizen's parents along with Ryuuzaki-sensei there.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

They all stared at him. He shuddered. This was not going to be good.

_To be continued…_


	9. Chapter Nine

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.**

Lady Monozuki: Ugh, this chapter was difficult to write. Anyway, thank you everyone for reading, reviewing, putting this on your favorites list, etc. It really means a lot to me. Also, thanks for being patient with me!

His eyes went back and forth between the three people in the room, trying to read each of their expressions. So far, he had yet been able to figure out a reason. However, if the grim expression on Ryuuzaki-sensei's face was anything to go by, they would not be having a pleasant encounter with the Echizens. He put on his fake smile. They had not bothered to answer his question. He considered himself a patient person for the most part. This, however, was another issue entirely.

He wanted answers from them as to why their earlier encounter had been so cold and why they were back now of all times. If he wasn't trying to remain passive, he would be glaring at them. He noticed that Tezuka was more tense than usual. He focused on trying to calm himself. It was not an easy task considering that he could cut the tension in the room with a knife. It was quite uncomfortable. Fuji let out a silent sigh, trying to mentally prepare himself for what was to come.

"Tezuka, Fuji," Ryuuzaki-sensei greeted.

"Sensei," Tezuka said. He merely nodded.

"The Echizens came here to request something of you. I tried to convince them otherwise, but they are adamant that you respect their wishes."

"What have they requested?" he asked, looking at the couple warily.

"Nanjiroh, I'll let you explain since I don't understand myself."

The man who was dressed in monk garb cleared his throat. "Rinko and I want you to leave our son alone. You will see him at school, but we want you to refrain from visiting him from the hospital. If you don't respect our wishes, we'll go to the police."

Fuji was shocked at the dark tone that the former tennis pro had used. It seemed unnecessary to use that threat. There was something more going on than what they were leading on.

"Why should we do that?" he growled. "You weren't the ones who found him and you didn't come until now! Why should we leave him alone?"

"Because he is our son and you have no right to meddle in our affairs." Rinko said in a calm voice. He could detect the dislike hidden in her tone.

"Then why were you not there for him on his _birthday_?" he hissed out. He noticed the couple shuddered at his tone, giving him the satisfaction in knowing that they were afraid of him.

"It's none of your business," Nanjiroh interjected. "Our family is not the same as yours."

"You have no right to request that we stay away from your son after everything we've been through. We were there when you weren't," Fuji bit out.

"He is still our son. We expect you to respect our wishes or else we will take action."

He was about to say something else when he felt Tezuka squeeze his arm tightly. He closed his mouth and looked at Kunimitsu. He frowned.

"We'll respect your wishes," Tezuka said. "However, we would like you to allow us to visit him tomorrow with a few of our teammates."

"That will be fine, but after that; please leave him alone."

He noticed that Ryuuzaki-sensei shot them a questioningly glance. They had some explaining to do to her later, but right now that didn't matter to them.

"We'll take our leave then," Tezuka said. He bowed. "Please excuse us."

Fuji bowed, but didn't say anything. He wasn't going to trust himself to speak, especially not after his outburst earlier. He followed Tezuka out of the room silently. It seemed unfair that they had to accept whatever Echizen's parents demanded. They had not seen their son lying on the floor, bleeding. He only _wished_ he could forget the sight.

"Why did you stop me?" he asked as they headed toward the waiting room.

"Because if you had continued, we would've lost the right to ever visit him again," Tezuka said. "Call for your ride. I have a feeling that by the time we're done talking to Ryuuzaki-sensei, they'll be here."

He nodded. He pulled out his cell and pressed down two. He figured that his sister wouldn't mind being bothered to give him a ride. Just as he finished his call, Ryuuzaki-sensei walked over to greet them. He put his phone in his pocket and waited for the inquiry that he knew she had.

"Care to explain what you mean by letting some teammates visit Ryoma, Tezuka?"

"It's as I said," Tezuka replied. "We ran into Kikumaru and Oishi today. They know of Echizen's condition. We said they could come for a visit."

"What about the rest of the team?"

"Right now, I think it would be best to inform them of what happened. I have the feeling that the Echizens are not comfortable with us around their son."

Fuji did not miss how Ryuuzaki-sensei's face darkened at that statement. There was more going on than they were aware of, which could possibly explain why the Echizens were adamant about them staying away from their son. He kept this to himself though. There would be a time for him to confront her alone, but now was not it.

"I see," Ryuuzaki-sensei muttered. "I'll call a meeting tomorrow morning with the Regulars. I'll tell them to show up at the school and we'll meet there before heading to the hospital. Afterward, we can have a meeting. Be there at nine."

"Aa, we will."

She waved them good-bye before heading back toward Echizen's room. Fuji watched her for a second longer. She was hiding something. He intended to find out what tomorrow and no one would be able to stop him, not even Kunimitsu.

"Syuusuke," Tezuka's stern voice brought him out of his thoughts. He looked up at the other.

"Yes?"

"Are you going to be all right?"

He gave a smile. "I'll be fine, Kunimitsu. Will you be fine?"

"Aa," Tezuka confirmed.

He noticed his sister pulling up. "I have to go; I'll see you tomorrow, Kunimitsu."

He waved his boyfriend good-bye. He sat in the car with his sister, not bother talking to her. There were too many missing pieces of the puzzle. However, he knew with certainty that Ryoma trying to commit suicide was not a random incident. They had obviously missed the signs and he hated that they had. He would ensure that it would never happen again.

"Syuusuke," his sister said softly. He tore his gaze away from the window and noticed that they had arrived at home.

"Ah," he said. "Thank you for the ride."

"You seem distracted. Is everything all right?"

"It will be," he replied.

--

He watched as the Regulars who did not know of Echizen's condition try and speculate the reason why they had been called to school over the holidays. Their reasoning went from ridiculous to ludicrous. He could only stand there with a bitter smile on his face. Every once in a while, Echizen's name would come up in the conversation and he wanted to walk out of the room.

_When they find out the real reason, everything is going to change._

This was not something that happened every day. In fact, there were three possible ways the Regulars could react to the news. The first would be to abandoned Echizen altogether. The second would be to close up within themselves and provide very little support. The last way to react was the one that he hoped the Regulars would provide, and that was the support and willingness to help out in any way possible. While Fuji had a feeling the situation ran deeper than what he knew, he hoped that they would never backed down.

He sighed as they waited for Tezuka and Ryuuzaki-sensei to arrive. He had decided to remain in the clubroom. Oishi gave him a small smile. Only half of them knew the truth and those that were about to learn the truth would have never thought that it could happen to their team. The door to the clubroom opened, making the Regulars fall silent as their buchou and coach walked into the room. He saw the concerned glance Kunimitsu threw his direction and smiled, trying to reassure the other that he would be all right.

"Minna, thanks for coming out over the holidays," Ryuuzaki-sensei began. Immediately, the atmosphere in the room changed to where he started to feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Sensei, we're all not here yet. Echizen is still missing," Momoshiro commented.

He noticed Tezuka's face darken slightly and Ryuuzaki-sensei flinched. He had also clenched his fist tighter to where he could feel the nails digging harder into his skin. He didn't care. The pain was nothing to what he was feeling inside.

"Ryoma is the reason why I called you out today," Ryuuzaki-sensei said. He noticed that her tone was darker than before, which wasn't entirely unexpected. "Ryoma is currently in the hospital."

"Did he get injured over the break?" Momoshiro asked.

"Shut up, Peach Head."

"What did you call me?"

"You heard me!"

"Stop it!" he shouted. All eyes turned to him and he realized what he had done. He tried to look passive, but knew that he had to explain his outburst. He tried to stop shaking. Why was it so hard to tell them what had happened?

"Thank you Fuji," Ryuuzaki-sensei said, breaking the awkward silence. The attention finally turned away from him and he relaxed slightly. Tezuka gave him a soft look. He knew that if Kunimitsu didn't have to be the leader for the club, that his boyfriend would be by his side. "Ryoma is in the hospital because he attempted suicide."

Silence greeted her words. He stole a glance at those who already knew. Eiji looked like he was about to cry and Oishi looked more worn than usual. He had a feeling that they had spent the night trying to comfort each other. Repeating the news over and over again was torture to him. Why couldn't he just be allowed to forget?

"Because of this, we're going to visit Ryoma in the hospital as a team. His parents requested that we leave him alone until he comes back to school."

There was an unspoken "if he comes back to school" implied by her, but he doubted anyone else picked up on it. He waited for the others to react in _some way_. They were unusually silent. He fidgeted. Even if he was no longer the focus of attention, he still felt uncomfortable. Then again, news of someone trying to kill themselves was hard to swallow. What's more was that it was their twelve year old prodigy who had done this. He wondered if he had not discovered Echizen that day, how he would react to the news.

"Well," Momo said after several moments of silence. "What are we waiting for? Echizen needs us."

Upon hearing those words, he suddenly felt some of the weight being lifted off his shoulders. It would still be awhile before he would ever stop reliving that day's nightmare, but for now…for now, everything was all right.

--

Nanjiroh watched the eight teens crowd around the bed his son was lying in. His stare lingered on the brunette with glasses and the one who dared to say that he and his wife had no right to restrict their visits. They didn't know what they were talking about. They had no idea what their life was like. He clenched his fist.

"Nanjiroh," he heard. He turned to see Sumire staring at him. "I won't stand by anymore."

"He's our son; you stay out of this, hag."

"He may be your son, but he doesn't deserve this. I won't let you continue with this."

"Go ahead and try."

_To be continued…_


	10. Chapter Ten

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.**

Lady Monozuki: Holy cookies! I finally updated this fic. I apologize to everyone who's waited so long. It took me forever to figure out how to get from point A to point B. I hope that the chapter makes up for it though. Thank you everyone for reading/reviewing!

Chapter Ten:

They sat in silence in the clubhouse. Ever since returning from the hospital, they had all remained silent. Fuji assumed that's because they did not know how to react to everything that had just occurred. After all, there had not been much time to comprehend the magnitude of the situation. He could barely grasp it himself. He wanted them to say something though to break the tension that was slowly rising. Kunimitsu stood and all eyes turned to him.

"Now that you are aware of Echizen's condition, I hope you all respect the wishes of Echizen's parents. Thank you all for coming out today and visiting him. I will see you all after the new year. You are all dismissed."

After that, the rest of the Regulars dismissed themselves, leaving at different rates. It was the most quiet he had ever seen them. Fuji noticed that Kunimitsu was staring at him as well.

"Are you going, Syuusuke?"

"No, I want to talk to Ryuuzaki-sensei."

"I don't think that it's any of our business," Kunimitsu protested.

"How are we supposed to help Ryoma when we don't know the extent of the situation? I would rather us have some knowledge rather than none at all. You can disagree all you want, but you want to know yourself. You can't deny that."

"No, but I would rather not press information from an outside source. I would rather Ryoma feel comfortable enough to tell us himself."

"He doesn't need to know that we know the truth."

"But it will hinder our goal if he does find out."

"That's why he doesn't need to know."

"You're playing a dangerous game, Syuusuke."

"I know the risks and I am willing to take them. If you want nothing to do with the information, that's fine. You can have the clean conscious. I, however, am choosing otherwise."

"Syuusuke, I just want you to think this through for once. There are too many risk factors involved with this and I know that you don't like me being the voice of reason, but pleas consider other people's feelings other than your own for once."

"Kunimitsu, I know what I am doing. You can't stop me, even if you wanted to. Now will you please stop pretending to be the voice of reason when you are just as curious as I am when it comes to this subject manner?"

He watched the myriad of emotions on his boyfriends face all pass away and eventually coming to one conclusion. He smirked when he knew that he had won this round. It wasn't uncommon for him to win though because he hated to lose. While he knew that this frustrated Kunimitsu to no end, this subject was not open for debate. He was going to find out what had gone wrong and what had changed in the Echizen household. Or even if the happy story of Echizen Naninjiroh and Echizen Rinko was even real.

Fuji headed out of the clubhouse to find Ryuuzaki-sensei in her office. He wasn't going to dance around the subject, he was going to get straight to the point and he _knew_ that there was more going on than she wanted to admit. He wasn't going to give that up that belief. Syuusuke tossed a glance over his shoulder and noticed that Kunimitsu had chosen to follow him after all.

"I'm glad you're joining me," he said.

"As long as this doesn't get out to Ryoma, we'll be fine."

"Don't worry, nothing will slip out. You're not one to carelessly talk and neither am I."

"Unless it's intentional," he heard his boyfriend muttered.

He chuckled slightly. He was certain that his boyfriend could name at least twenty examples, all occurring within the last week or so, but this was far too important for him to blunder. He stopped in front of Ryuuzaki-sensei's door and knocked.

"Come in," he heard.

He slid open the door and noticed that Ryuuzaki looked surprised at his presence. He didn't even bother to say why he and Kunimitsu were here. He took a seat, opposite of her desk, and waited for his boyfriend to join him.

"I thought everyone had gone home," she stammered.

"Well, we were heading out, but we decided that there was something that we needed to know," he spoke.

"What is that?" she asked.

"What is Ryoma's situation really like at home?"

If she was startled, she did not express it on her face. Instead, she looked as if she had expected them to come barging in her office to find out the truth. It seemed very odd to him and he wondered if she had wanted to share what was really happening.

"I shouldn't tell you this," she said. "However, I think you understand the situation well enough that it would be unfair to keep you out from it. I will tell you this on a couple of conditions."

"All right," he said. "Name your conditions."

"This does not fall onto the ears of anyone outside. Also, this will not be used against the Echizens until the time is right."

"Very well," Tezuka spoke.

She sighed and took her seat across from them. It was then that he could see the dark circles under her eyes and just how much she seemed to have aged since the last time that they had met before the holidays.

"Nanjiroh and Rinko met in America, back when he was just starting out his tennis careers. He was always a player back then and had a slew of women that he hung around with and more than likely slept with too. When he started his career, there were temptations everywhere. He was the kind of man that could not be tamed, no matter what his relationship status was at the time. Rinko had been brought up in a very strict household where infidelity was frowned upon and that when a man cheated on you, it was all your fault for not being able to provide for the needs of your husband.

"When Nanjiroh told me that he was getting married, I knew that he wasn't as serious as he should be about the relationship. He started out fine. However, his fans kept throwing themselves at him and he was the kind of guy who wanted to take every opportunity handed to him. It wasn't long before he was involved with several women and left Rinko at home, alone. One night, he came home with Ryoga, whom you've met before. To Rinko, it was a disgrace to have a love child so she took the child while he was gone and gave it away to someone else. Nanjiroh was far from heartbroken.

"While he cared for Ryoga, it wasn't the child that he wanted. Eventually, Rinko became pregnant with Ryoma. They had been going through some troubles before and were surprised when she found out that she was going to have a child. At first, Nanjiroh wanted to get rid of the baby because he didn't want to be responsible for a child, but Rinko insisted that they keep the baby because she wanted to keep Nanjiroh in the marriage and hoped that he would fall back in love with her. At that time, Nanjiroh was dating a woman and was getting serious about her.

"So he wanted to give up on Rinko. She didn't want to be the only disgraced person in her family so she tried everything to keep Nanjiroh there. When Ryoma was born, Nanjiroh instantly fell in love with the child and soon dotted upon Ryoma. It didn't take long for Rinko to get angry with him for paying more attention to the baby than her. So she started to hit Ryoma when no one was looking. I came to visit them to see how well he was doing at the time and found out the horrible state things were in. Ryoma had unexplained bruises on his body and I was given permission by them to take away Ryoma while they worked things out.

"He stayed in my care for six months and they finally asked for him back, saying everything was fine and that they wouldn't hurt him anymore. So I believed them and gave his back to them. Things seemed fine for a while and then there was a huge fight between the two of them when Rinko found Nanjiroh in bed with another woman. She told Nanjiroh that she was going to kill the baby and he called the police. She was arrested, but was released because they didn't have enough evidence to convict her.

"Ryoma was given back to me to take care of for the time, until they figured out her problems. It wasn't easy to convince Rink to go into therapy because she was already so adamant against getting help. She only saw Nanjiroh as the problem in the house and thought that he was the only one who needed to do anything to fix their marriage. While I was staying in America, I took care of Ryoma for the time. I couldn't' take him back to Japan and ended up taking off more than a year from teaching. Eventually, they gave me permission to take Ryoma back to Japan and I did so.

"There were several people who were surprised by the sudden appearance of Ryoma, but that's beside the story. A few months after I had returned home, they came back for Ryoma and I told them that I was going to stay with them for a while to ensure that the child wasn't going to come into harm again. They agreed and everything seemed fine for the three months that I lived with them. So I left them in peace and they returned to America. I kept in contact with them every now and then, making sure that Ryoma was okay. They always mentioned he was fine and growing up so fast and how they regretted wasting two and half years fighting over him.

"I was convinced. I eventually gained time off to visit them and was horrified by what I discovered while there. They had been starving Ryoma and leaving him behind while they went on vacations to "revitalize" their marriage. When I found him, he was all alone and Nanjiroh and Rinko were in the Bahamas. They said that Ryoma knew how to get food for himself, but there wasn't any food in the house. I took Ryoma to the hospital and an issue for extraction was issued. They came back to face inquires about Ryoma's child abuse, but they somehow managed to shake off the police. I tried to take Ryoma back with me, but they refused to let me take him again. So I stayed there and saw them mistreat him time and again. I called the police several times, but each time, it ended up the same.

"The police bought every lie they told them and they tried to get a restraining order against me. I went back to Japan and tried to ignore the fact that Ryoma was in a miserable spot, but it didn't work. I still called and checked up on him. I even talked to Ryoma a few times, but he always insisted that he was fine. I knew otherwise, but couldn't do anything. Finally, a police chief came into power who went over the old cases. He came across Ryoma's and then they finally investigated. When they went to the Echizen's home, they found Ryoma almost dead.

"He was immediately sent to the hospital and they were forced to track down Nanjiroh and Rinko. They were vacationing in Japan at the time. Because they both had citizenship here, they couldn't force them out of the country. So they were forced to wait until their return. They found my name had come up in the report and contacted me in hopes of giving them more information. Unfortunately, I didn't have solid evidence. I then remembered a crime investigator had taken photos of the bruises on Ryoma's body and suggested they look there.

"They didn't find the photos. I heard whispers that Nanjiroh paid the person to gain the photos. Basically, they couldn't directly link them to the crime and so they ended up at a dead-end. Until we can find documented proof, mainly those photos, we can't prove anything. I've been working with the American police department for years and trying to gain custody of Ryoma. I wish that I have made progress, but Nanjiroh is bent on keeping Ryoma in his care."

"If Nanjiroh is so bent on keeping Ryoma, then why send him here? He knows you coach here," Fuji asked.

Ryuuzaki-sensei sighed. "He's dangling Ryoma in front of me. It's his way of telling me that I'm so close and yet so far from having Ryoma."

"I see," Fuji muttered.

He was trying to figure out how everything could have gone so wrong. His anger was burning passionately. If he didn't like Echizen Nanjiroh now, he liked him even less now. He also disliked Echizen Rinko. She had never come across as controlling or abusive. However, the picture had been painted quite a bit differently. He wondered if their façade had ever been seen through by anyone else other than their coach. It seemed unbelievable that they had kept the lie going for so long. Somewhere, there had to be a mistake that they had made.

"Ryuuzaki-sensei," Tezuka spoke up. "Why did the Echizens return to Japan then? If everything for them worked out legally, why are they here?"

"They had filed a harassment charge against the police and moved here to get away from the police. They didn't want to be investigated anymore. The police department holds no jurisdiction here. Not unless we prove that they are abusing Ryoma here."

"What about his attempted suicide? Won't the police investigate the circumstances surrounding that?" Fuji inquired.

"Mostly likely, they will. However, they can't do much with the person since the person they need to talk to is unconscious and the doctors are unsure as to whether he'll even wake up."

"What if Ryoma does die?" Fuji voiced his fears out loud.

"Please, I don't want to think about that," Ryuuzaki-sensei said. "Now, I've told you all that I know. You can't repeat this information to anyone, is that clear?"

"Hai sensei!" they chorused.

Tezuka stood first and he followed suit. Now that he knew everything, it just made the situation so much worse. What was he supposed to do when he couldn't repeat the information, let alone tell anyone else. That ruled out gaining information from outside sources, which he knew quite a few people who would be happy to dig up such information for him. He sighed. He had hoped this would give him a better idea, but he had never been more confused about what to do in his life.

"Syuusuke, what are you thinking about?"

"Nothing," he replied.

"You're lying to me."

"It's none of your business!" he snapped. It took him a few minutes to realize what he had just done. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you."

"I know you're stressed Syuusuke," Tezuka began. "However, I don't want you to take it out on me."

"I don't want to take it out on you either."

They walked to his house in silence. There wasn't much on the subject of Ryoma that could be said.

"Syuusuke," Tezuka began.

"Yes?"

"I know that you care for Ryoma very much. I care for him too. However, I think that it would be better for us to take some time apart. We both have issues that we need to deal with and I don't think we can sort through them together."

Syuusuke opened his eyes and stared at his boyfriend.

"What are you talking about?"

"I think you know well enough what I'm talking about," Tezuka replied.

_No, this can't be happening!_

_To be continued…_


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.**

**Lady Monozuki:** Anyone remember this story? Yeah, didn't think so. Never the less, for those who still remember it, I have finally updated. You may now do a happy dance. I am sorry it took so long. This story kind of hit a wall because I realized I didn't know where I was going with it. So, hopefully it will not take as long now that I have some direction.

With all of that being said, I am going to say that I am finding it extremely difficult to keep up with the number of stories I have going. Between them, plus work, and everything life seems to be dumping down on me, it's been hard to find time to write. So, in order to figure out which stories you are most interested in, I am asking you to review. I want you to review your favorite story of mine so I can determine an update schedule. The story/stories with the most reviews will be updated first, followed by the ones with the least amount of reviews. I'm hoping to run a bi-weekly schedule. Popular stories the first week, less popular the second week. So, if this is your favorite story, please review!

He had gone to his room and collapsed behind the closed door. Numbness took over his body, even his heart. His mind was blank. He couldn't even process what had just happened a few minutes ago. Syuusuke felt something warm hit his arm softly. The wetness rolled down his skin, but he barely felt it. In the fogginess of his mind, he barely registered the knocking on his door. It was gentle, just like the voice that was calling his name.

"Syuusuke," his sister called. "Syuusuke, it's dinner time."

But he didn't move. He couldn't move. If he did, he would have to face reality once again—and he didn't want to face it alone.

"I'll tell mom that you're not feeling well," Yumiko said gently, understanding that he wasn't going to come out of the room any time soon. How could he? The one person that he thought he could rely on in the best and worst of times had just abandoned him. Now there was no one in this battle. He had to face everything alone. He wasn't strong enough to face it alone.

In the corners on his mind, he wondered if this is how Ryoma had felt. If this was how it all began for Ryoma. How it started to drive the tennis prodigy to cut himself deep enough for him to land in the hospital? He wondered. Could he do it too? Could he have just experienced the same abandonment that Ryoma had?

_No. Your family still loves you._

But for how long would they care for him if he just stayed in his room and never spoke to them again? He squashed the thoughts. It wasn't a time for him to feel sorry for himself. It was time for him to figure out what he was going to do in order to save Ryoma. At least, that's what he wanted to do. It's what he intended to do.

However, he couldn't bring himself to get anywhere at this point. There wasn't any way that he could undertake such a huge task right now. Not with the way he felt currently. It was all too much for him to think about. For him to bear.

_What can I do?_

_-Forgotten-_

Tezuka stared at his homework, not really reading and comprehending the questions being asked of him. Every once in a while, faint recognition of the words would come to him, and his mind would spout off an answer, but his hand wouldn't move. He did nothing on his homework. All he could think about was what he did to Syuusuke earlier.

It had hurt. He thought that it was the best thing to do—and part of him still believed that—but seeing the shocked look on Syuusuke's face had ripped part of his heart apart. He shouldn't have said anything. He should have just let things be between them.

But he hadn't.

Instead, he had crushed Syuusuke, and a piece of himself. That piece, he was afraid, he could never repair. He was a jerk, to put it nicely. If only he hadn't thought about the decision to break up rationally! If only he had thought with his heart instead of his mind!

_I'm sorry, Syuusuke._

Tezuka closed his book for whatever subject he was studying and looked at his phone. Should he call Syuusuke or not? His hand was already dialing Syuusuke's number before he could answer the question. His heart obviously knew what to do. The phone rang for what felt like forever, but there was no answer. He tried again, hoping that the other person was just occupied temporarily instead of actually ignoring him.

By the sixth try, he gave up. Syuusuke was ignoring him. He leaned back in his chair, trying to think of what the next few days would bring them. They had a while before they had to see each other again, technically. But he wasn't sure that he was going to wait that long to see Syuusuke again.

In fact, they probably would probably meet having to figure out what to do about Echizen. With that thought, he dialed another number. They were going to need the help of someone who was influential, get information, and never gave up until they got what they wanted. He didn't care if he was going back on what he had promised Ryuuzaki-sensei earlier. They needed they help. He knew exactly who could help in that situation.

_-Forgotten-_

It was early evening when his phone rang. He had every intention of ignoring the call, until he saw the number. Or rather, until the number and name was read out loud to him by his butler. He stretched out his hand to receive the mobile phone, which was placed quickly into his open palm.

"Tezuka, how unusual for you to call me so late," he said in his usual tone. Actually, it was rare for the captain of Seigaku to call him in general, and it was always only to set up some sort of friendly match between their schools.

"Atobe, I need your help."

He raised an eyebrow. This was going to be an interesting call.

_To be continued…_


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.**

**Lady Monozuki: **Well, it was fun to read reviews for this story. I'm amazed so many of you acutally remembered this story. It was rather heartwarming. As you can see, this story is being updated this week. This story had one of the highest number of reviews. This story will now be updated every second and fourth week per reader votes! Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I appreciate them so much! Please leave another if you feel so inclined!

Syuusuke had on the floor for a long time. The time had brought many unpleasant thoughts to his head, all of which he tried to shatter and dispel from his mind. They weren't true. Every single one of them were a lie. It's what he had told himself, but there was a morbid side of him that wondered if they were actually right.

A knock at his door came, but it barely registered.

"Aniki," he heard a voice say on the other side. It instantly settled in his mind. Yuuta was outside of his door. Standing for the first time in a long time, he opened the door. His brother stared at him awkwardly, as if trying to figure out what to say.

"Yuuta," he said gently. "Come in."

He opened the door wider to allow his baby brother in the room. The other wandered in and sat at his desk, as he normally did. He took a seat on his bed.

"Nee-chan said you hadn't come out of your room since you got home. Is everything all right?" his brother asked.

He gave a strained smile. "I'm fine, Yuuta. I'm sorry I haven't been able to see you in the past couple of days."

"It's okay. You had other things to do. I understand."

There was an uncomfortable silence between them. His brother really wasn't any good at trying to cheer anyone up. But at least he tried. That was the most important thing, he thought.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Yuuta asked.

"Not really," he said.

More silence followed. He went back to his previous thoughts about everything that had happen in just a short amount of time. He couldn't handle this alone. He was not strong enough to do this alone. He needed others to help him through this. So how could he get through it if he wasn't going to include the people that mattered most to him? He wasn't sure.

"Hey," his brother said. "Do you remember when we were kids? How when it snowed, you and I used to spend all day outside to make snowmen that were taller than us? You used to let me stand on top of you so I could put on their noses 'cause I wasn't tall enough."

He chuckled. "I remember. I also remember that we could never use carrots either because you ate them all. Instead we used zucchini because it was the only vegetable you wouldn't touch."

"Hey, it's a gross vegetable!" Yuuta protested.

"I also used to eat all of your zucchini when mom and dad weren't looking so you wouldn't ge tin trouble for not eating all of your vegetables."

"You always looked out for me," Yuuta said quietly. "You never let anyone do the same for you."

"Yuuta," Syuusuke whispered.

"Don't forget that we're here too."

He smiled for the first time that day. "Arigatou."

-Always-

Golden eyes fluttered open, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. His eyes took in white ceilings at first, then giant machines that were recording different things. He recognized the numbers and what they meant, having seen them before. It didn't take him long to put the pieces together.

_I'm in a hospital. Again._

It was an unpleasant feeling to be in a place that carried so few happy memories from him. The nurse walked in, and he ignored her, hoping that she wouldn't notice he was awake. He closed his eyes, wishing that he hadn't woken up at all. Nothing good ever came out of waking up. His dreams were always so much more pleasant that reality.

If only he could sleep forever.

He didn't have the energy to answer their questions. Not right now. He wanted to be taken back into the only land that made sense—dream land.

Ryoma tried to be as relaxed as possible as she checked his vitals. He had gone through the routine enough times to know what they did every two hours.

"How are you feeling, Echizen-kun?" the nurse asked.

And as always, he had never fooled a nurse.

"Fine," he said hoarsely.

"I've paged a doctor. He'll come see you soon. Do you remember anything that happened?"

He didn't answer the question, knowing that the doctor was going to ask him the same thing. He was also going to have to answer the police detective the same question. It was a tedious process to go through his story every time someone new came in the room.

"Your parents should be back soon. They stepped outside to get some fresh air."

His heart sank at the mention of his parents. If only the nurse knew what hell they had put him through over the years. If only the nurse knew what he had to suffer and endure. But he couldn't tell her. He had promised to never tell anyone the truth of what really went on in his life. No one would believe it either.

His parents were perfect actors and wonderful liars. Any deep questioning could usually be quelled with a flash of money. So there was never any point on even trying. Not that he had been trying over the years. He knew well enough what the consequences would be if he did utter a word.

One time of going through that had been enough for his life.

The doctor walked in the room, along with a person in a suit. He assumed that this was the psychiatrist that was assigned to his case. Though typically the interviews were conducted separately.

"Echizen-kun, it's good to see that you're awake. My name is Doctor Kamiya. Are you feeling any sort of pain or discomfort?" the doctor asked.

"Limbs are heavy," he muttered.

"That's fairly usual. You should try and move around in your bed to get them moving again. Once you do that, they should start to feel better. Then we can get you on walks around the hospital."

"Echizen-kun, I'm Doctor Yagari. I'm the psychiatrist assigned to your case. Looking at your files, Echizen-kun, I've noticed that this is not your first incident in the hospital for attempted suicide. Is that correct?"

"Yes," he answered hollowly.

"The first attempt was when you were still living in America, is that correct?"

"Yes."

The questions dragged on from there. He answered each of them in the same empty voice. Even if he wanted to tell them the truth, he would never be able to.

-Always-

Atobe hung up the phone after talking with Tezuka. During the entire conversation, he had sense Tezuka's hesitancy and sadness. It had been shocking to hear that from the person that others considered to be stoic, but not all surprising considering the information that was given to him. He would have never thought that Echizen was living in such an abusive household. The super rookie never acted like it.

But then again, it was probably due to the years of practice that the kid had received. If he was to understand, the kid had been suffering from abuse for all of his life. Over time, they learn to mask, conceal, and act normally. The ones who are most afraid hardly ever give off any warning signs. It was a lot to take in.

However, now wasn't the time to just think about it. From what he understood, Echizen's parents were manipulative and cunning. And in order to get Ryoma out of the situation, they needed evidence and proof. The very same evidence and proof that had mysteriously vanished years ago. It was up to him to retrieve and find any data that he could.

With his father's vast empire and wealth, it wouldn't be too hard. At least, that's what he figured.

-Always-

Tezuka felt horrible. After the events of the day, he was exhausted and merely wanted to sleep. But he still wanted to talk to Syuusuke before bed. He had to. He dialed Syuusuke's number once more and waited for the other pick up.

"Tezuka," he heard Syuusuke's exhausted voice on the side. "What do you want?"

He took in a deep breath. "I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to apologize."

"For what? You made it fairly clear that you didn't want to see me anymore. You don't have to apologize for that. Feelings change," Syuusuke said rather emotionlessly. His heart clenched tight at those words.

"I know I hurt you, Syuusuke."

"It's Fuji," the other corrected.

"I hurt myself too. I made a rational decision, and it was wrong of me. Rational or not, my feelings for you haven't changed."

There was silence for a brief moment, then laughter. Bitter, hollow laughter.

"You broke up with me six hours ago and now you're trying to get back together? You're cruel, Tezuka. Too cruel."

He heard the sounds of sobbing on the other end. He had really screwed this one up. His voice caught in his throat. How was he ever going to make this up?

"Just leave me alone, Tezuka. I don't want to hear from you," Syuusuke said.

The line went dead. He barely moved. What was he supposed to do now?

-Always-

Syuusuke curled up in a ball, knowing that Yuuta had heard every single word. He didn't care. Things were already so screwed up at the moment that he simply did not care what happened now. He let himself cry in front of his younger brother for the first time. Even as children, he had never let Yuuta see him cry. He had always protected his brother from everything that life had thrown their way.

But this was too much for him to handle right now. And he couldn't hold the façade any longer. Soft footsteps made their way across his room. The bed dipped near him. He felt warmth envelop his frame.

"I'm here for you, aniki."

-Always-

Ryoma had answered three hundred questions from the police, ones that hardly varied from the same ones the psychiatrist had asked. He was already exhausted. He made himself comfortable in the hospital bed, trying to go back to sleep. The door opened again.

He opened his eyes to see his mother and father entering the room. They smiled at him, threw their arms around him, and smothered him with "affection." He knew it was all an act.

"Oh Ryoma! You worried us to death! We were so scared when we found out what happened!" his mother exclaimed.

"No matter what, we'll get through this," his father said. It was to throw off any suspicion that there was trouble at him.

If he didn't know any better, he would have believed it.

"We told you not to pull any more stunts like this, brat," Nanjiroh had whispered lowly in his ear.

Ryoma shivered. He was going to pay.

_To be continued…_


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.**

**Lady Monozuki:** Thank you to everyone who reviewed this story. I really appreciate each and every one of them I get. They are the highlight of my day. I am pleased to update another chapter for you guys, who have stuck with this story, and I hope you enjoy! Things are slowly coming together and it's been an interesting journey since the first day that I published this. Thank you for your support! Please make my day and leave a review!

Syuusuke had long-since drifted off to sleep, but Yuuta had stayed in his room, by his side throughout the night. It was like they were kids again and Yuuta had slept in his room because of a nightmare. If only it had been that case. He shifted in his bed, not wanting to wake up, but his body rejecting the idea of sleeping some more. His eyelids felt heavy, as if he hadn't slept at all.

_It's because you cried._

He had forgotten what it had felt like to cry in the first place, but it had been very relaxing. He didn't know when he had fallen asleep either. Just that there had been no reason to stay awake. Fuji looked over at his brother, who had curled up next to him—probably in an attempt to stay warm—and smiled. For the first time, Yuuta had been the one to cheer him up and make him happy. Even if it wasn't much, it was still something. He slowly got out of bed, careful not to disturb his sleeping brother.

With the weather outside turning as cold as it was, he made sure to wrap the blankets around Yuuta before leaving. He smiled.

"Arigatou, Yuuta."

Fuji didn't know how the rest of the day was going to go, but he was going to have to fake his happiness. He couldn't worry everyone like he did yesterday. He wouldn't allow himself to do that. Syuusuke stepped into the bathroom and looked himself in the mirror. He put on a fake smile. He was going to make it through all of this. He had to.

-Always-

Tezuka hadn't slept at all last night. His mind was still reeling from the coldness in Syuusuke's voice. It had haunted him, depriving him of any sleep. He closed his eyes once more, trying to push the thoughts from his mind. But they wouldn't stop echoing loudly. He turned over to face his clock. The time now read seven thirty-one. It was later than normal for him to be in bed, but he honestly hadn't felt like moving. He didn't want to do anything.

In hopes of distracting himself, he thought about Ryoma. The super rookie tennis star that was now lying in a coma because of the cruel abuse his parents had put him through. It didn't seem fair that Ryoma had to go through all of that. It didn't seem like anyone outside of them cared either. Otherwise, the police in America would have done something. They would have listened to Ryuuzaki-sensei and arrested his parents.

But nothing had been done. And now Ryoma was paying the price for them not acting.

_If he hadn't gone through that, would we even met him? Would he have gone to live with Ryuuzaki-sensei? Or would we never even know his true potential?_

The questions were endless. And no matter how many times he thought about them, all he could think of was how grateful that he got an opportunity to know the young teen. But now, he feared that he would never seen the teen again. Echizen's parents were intent on keeping them away from him, and they didn't have much room to argue. They were just a bunch of kids after all. They weren't going to change anyone's minds unless they had solid proof that this was a normal occurrence inside that household. Which the Echizens would probably find some way to destroy all of that too.

Tezuka hoped that Atobe would find out some information soon. If they could retrieve the photos at least, then maybe they would be able to change the way that the police here viewed the case. It was asking for a lot. But Ryoma was worth it.

-Always-

Ryoma sat up in his bed, eating his breakfast. His parents were watching his every move, encouraging him to eat as much as he could so he could get his strength back. It was all and act. One that the nurses and doctors had bought without even bothering to dig further. They were just as impressionable as the doctors in America. Was there anyone in this country with half of a brain?

"We'll be back, sweetie. We're going to get something to eat," his mom said. She kissed him on the forehead. He didn't react. His parents left the room and he stopped eating his meal.

"Your parents are worried about you," the nurse commented. "It's sweet."

He almost threw up at hearing those words. He didn't know how they could think so. How they couldn't see how fake they were acting. The nurse finished up in the room and left. He relaxed in his bed, enjoying the solitude. At least he was alone.

The door opened again and he saw a man in a suit walk in. The man had dark hair and eyes, a rugged beard, and glasses. He was rubbing his hands together. He vaguely remembered him as one of the policemen from yesterday.

"You know, you've recovered from your injuries, but they still make you use the damn sanitizer before you enter the room," the man commented. It was a low and deep voice. The name was trying to come to mind, but he couldn't recall it. "You may not remember me from yesterday. I'm Oshitari Haruaki."

"Ah," he said. "I thought you asked me everything yesterday."

"We did, but I wanted to talk to you without your parents here."

"Have you been waiting outside of my room this whole time?" he asked.

The man laughed. "No. That just happened to be a coincidence. You know, my son tells me that you're an amazing tennis player."

He flinched slightly at the mention of the sport, but he concealed it well enough. He really didn't want to talk about tennis right now. Ryoma frowned.

"Your son?"

The man laughed again. "He told me that you might not make the connection. His name is Yuushi."

He stared blankly at the man.

"He attends Hyotei, has blue hair, and wears glasses?"

"Ah," he said, drawing faint recognition by the description. "The one who plays doubles with the red-haired kangaroo."

He had borrowed Eiji's description because he honestly couldn't remember the other person's name, just that they had tried to compete with Kikumaru on multiple occasions on who was better at acrobatics in the tennis world. The policeman seemed stunned at his words, but then broke into a laugh.

"Ahhh, Gakuto wouldn't appreciate being called that, but he's really like a kangaroo in some aspects."

Ryoma was beginning to get irritated by the man. As much as he wanted to remain polite, it was annoying not to know what the purpose behind the visit was.

"What do you really want, Oshitari-san?" he asked in a dark tone. The older man stopped his laughter and changed back into the professional he was supposed to be.

"I want you to know, Echizen-san, that I will not rest until we get to the bottom of your case. I don't think this is just a kid crying for attention. I think that you're in danger. I am going to continue investigating until I find out what is going on. If you need someone to talk to, I'm here to listen."

The man pressed a business card into his hands. He stared at it for a moment.

"Everything's fine," he said coldly. "Please leave, I'd like to rest."

"As you wish, Echizen-san, but I know you're lying to me," Oshitari-san said.

The policemen exited the room. Ryoma looked down at the card for a brief moment. He felt happy for the first time in a long time.

-Always-

Atobe had a tall pile of papers sitting on his desk. He was reading through every report, every detail, and every unspoken word in Echizen's case. It hadn't been difficult to get his hands on a copy of the files. His father had taught him basic hacking skills so that he could access computers of rival companies and make copies of their important documents without leaving a trace. He had spent some of his spare time perfecting his skills, to where even military defense satellites weren't safe from him.

He frowned as he read on. The recounts of the various states that Ryoma had been in were difficult to read. They were upsetting to say the least, and hard to imagine. Not when they so greatly contrasted the picture of Echizen that he knew. There wasn't much grounds for them to stand on legally for a variety of reasons. The case in America had long-since been scrapped and put deep within the archive records. The police weren't going to touch the reports ever again.

But that's not what they needed. They needed a report from Japan. They needed some grounds of something that had happened in Japan so that they could get a conviction in this country. But everything had seemingly happened over in America. Which meant that another instance where Ryoma attempts suicide would have to happen in America for there to be a conviction.

The Echizens had dropped their American citizenships soon after they had entered the country, so they couldn't legally be extracted if the missing evidence in their case ever turned up. Law was messy. And this case might be the one that made the least amount of sense to him. The timeline was clouded with various details that he was missing.

And he certainly couldn't piece this information together alone. His hand reached out, a phone was quickly placed in it. He dialed the number, hoping that the person would be able to give him some answers.

_To be continued..._


End file.
